Officer accidentally shoots himself while fighting off ravenous raccoon

WASHINGTON — Talk about shooting yourself in the foot! That's exactly what happened to a United States park police officer.

An aggressive raccoon showed up and attacked the officer at Rock Creek National Park. The 2,000-acre park boasts the highest raccoon density in the nation — and it seems there may be a few bad raccoons in the bunch.

"At some point, there was an interaction between the raccoon and the officer," one official said. "Some shots were fired."

A witness said they her two gunshots and were shocked. Moments later, they heard five ore.

Officials believe the raccoon lunged at the officer possibly because it had rabies. During the scuffle, the officer shot himself instead of the raccoon. The officer is expected to be okay, but the rabid raccoon was taken out by another officer.